Archives provide long-term data storage, but simply storing the information isn't enough to meet compliance or litigation needs. Today, an organization needs the immutability of content-addressed storage (CAS), with its emphasis on features like retention and deletion control, litigation hold, access control and logging, and a provision for archival backup or replication. Archival systems must scale to enormous numbers of files or objects, yet include data deduplication to maintain manageable storage volumes. The product snapshots below are for a cross-section of archival systems that embrace CAS. These products were selected based on input from industry analysts and SearchStorage.com editors. Specifications are current as of
January 2008.

The following product thumbnails were provided by the vendors. SearchStorage.com periodically updates these listings. Vendors are welcome to submit their updates to Matt Perkins.

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Maximum storage capacity: Scalable to petabytes Immutability: CAStor delivers WORM storage ensuring that content cannot be changed once stored in the system and cannot be deleted unless its retention period has expired. Content integrity is ensured for the future with a patent pending upgradeable hash capability that allows the digital fingerprint associated with the file to be changed to a more robust algorithm if the original is compromised as is the case with MD5. CAStor provides applications and/or content owners with a content integrity seal that includes the hash key so they are able to independently verify the authenticity of content being stored. Litigation hold: Applications generating and managing electronic records and content are able to fully manage the retention cycle to ensure that any items that must be maintained due to litigation or regulatory investigation cannot be deleted from the system.Retention/deletion features: CAStor allows the retention period to be set for each individual file as well as at a directory level giving the same retention period to all files stored in that directory. Content can only be deleted from CAStor when the retention period has expired and it will remove all replicas stored in the local cluster and in distributed clusters.Storage reduction features: CAStor is designed to provide single instance storage as a back-end process so that read/write performance is not impacted.Reporting and logging features: CAStor includes a browser-based administrative console for monitoring cluster activity, capacity and event logs. The interface is the same whether it is a three-node cluster or a cluster with hundreds of nodes. Administrators can also seamlessly retire nodes from the cluster. Encryption and security features: CAStor stores each content object with a UUID that is a 128-bit randomly generated number that must be known in order to retrieve content from the cluster. Files can be encrypted as a preprocess before storing in CAStor using commercial cryptographic technologies. Metadata features: CAStor stores metadata along with the actual file data as a whole object in the cluster associated with a UUID. Applications can set the values for standard metadata including file type, retention period and number of replicas that are immutable. Custom metadata is also supported, allowing applications to store additional descriptive information about content being stored. The hash or digital signature is calculated and stored as metadata, which provides the ability to update the hash algorithm as needed. A metadata element called a LifePoint allows an application to describe the lifecycle for a particular content object when it is stored. Mutable metadata is supported for records management scenarios in which there is a need to update certain metadata elements. Scalability: CAStor scales from 1TB to petabytes simply by adding a new node(s) to the cluster without provisioning or configuring the additional storage. Performance scales linearly with new nodes as the added processing power is immediately utilized to handle I/O traffic. This enables CAStor to deliver the performance needed for massive reads and writes of small files as well as the high throughput demands of large files.Management tools: CAStor is self-managing, self-healing and self-balancing, which minimizes the amount of active management and administrative effort required for storage clusters. It automatically migrates content within the cluster to balance workload and capacity and responds to disk or node failures without administrator intervention to recover content and without losing availability of data. Monitoring and administration are performed through the browser-based management console.Archiving software integration: CAStor is integrated with applications for medical image management, HSM/file management and email archiving, and continues to pursue other archiving software relationships. Native integration to CAStor is through a simple HTTP interface and also supports CIFS and NFS where a traditional file system interface is required.Connectivity: CAStor is IP-based storage and uses standard Gigabit Ethernet for internode communication of the cluster as well as to the production LAN.Base cost: Pricing is based on storage capacity and ranges below $3 per gigabyte.Detailed specs: http://www.caringo.com/products.htmlGo to beginning -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Maximum Storage Capacity:EMC Centera is scalable to petabytes Immutability:Yes. EMC Centera's content addresses are digital fingerprints of the saved content. EMC Centera-based content cannot be overwritten, and it enforces an organization's retention and disposition policies intrinsic in the storage. The result is that information is nonerasable before its retention period expires, and if desired, it can also be configured so that information is kept forever. Additionally, EMC Centera's WORM functionality helps clients address compliance with internal governance and regulatory requirements. Litigation Hold:Yes. EMC Centera's advanced retention capabilities enable an application to put a hold on a specific piece of information or a whole category of information. Litigation hold locks content irrespective of its original retention period and prevents deletion of information. Information may only be deleted when the hold is released and only if the original retention period has expired. Retention/Deletion Features:Yes. EMC Centera Governance Edition and EMC Centera Compliance Edition Plus allow retention periods to be set on any and all stored information. EMC Centera also offers an e-shredding feature that complies with requirements of DoD 5015.02. It makes the information nonrecoverable but the media reusable. Storage Reduction Features:EMC Centera does single-instance storing of information, which means that any unique piece of information is stored only once, no matter how many applications or users request that it be stored. This single instancing is based on digital fingerprinting, which was mentioned earlier. Reporting and Logging Features:Yes. EMC Centera Console is a Web-based user interface that enables monitoring and reporting. EMC CentraStar 3.1.3 (the EMC Centera operating environment) does system logging for all successful and failed logins. Encryption and Security Features:The EMC Centera's content address (digital fingerprint) for each piece of unique information is an encrypted key of the content. EMC Centera adheres to the EMC corporate security compliance features of encrypted management connections, profile password persistency and restricts the IP addresses for a given profile. Encryption of information would be done by the application that sends the information to Centera to be stored. Metadata Features:Centera calculates a content address for the information object. That content address goes into a metadata file specific to that users' use of the information. The metadata file (an XML file) contains user information, a time stamp, user information, text annotations and tags as sent from the application and the content address of the stored object. The stored metadata files in the archive repository can be searched with CenteraSeek (the Centera search engine) for e-discovery or other purposes without opening the individual information items. Scalability:As a scalable repository that self-discovers new capacity and has the ability to containerize very small objects within one content address if desired, file and object count is not a meaningful measure of EMC Centera capacity utilization. Management Tools:CentraStar, Centera's operating environment, is self-configuring, self-managing and self-healing. It handles all the logistics of storing and retrieving data objects, including the creation of content addresses. CentraStar delivers storage, retrieval, and network-aware intelligence. It facilitates nondisruptive maintenance and upgrades, and with its layered software, content replication for disaster recovery and business continuity. In addition, Centera Console is a Web-based user interface that enables a complete set of monitoring and reporting. Archiving Software Integration:There are over 250 independent software vendor applications that have integrated to the Centera API. These applications cover over 20 different categories of archiving and range from email archiving, medical image archiving, content archiving, voice/video archiving and network intelligence archiving. Nonintegrated applications can leverage Centera as its archive via NFS, CIFS, FTP, HTTP or mainframe hierarchical storage management (HSM) interface access methods. Connectivity:EMC Centera is IP-based storage with gigabit copper (optionally optical) Ethernet connectivity to a LAN/WAN. Vendor Comment:EMC Centera, originally available in 2002, was the first CAS solution in the industry. EMC Centera, as a purpose-built storage platform for an active, online information archiving, is installed at over 3,500 customers, with over 150 PBs shipped since its inception and a customer base that includes 88 of the Fortune 100 companies, 38 of the top 50 commercial banks, 11 of the top 12 pharmaceutical firms and over 1,400 healthcare organizations. Availability:Currently available. Base Cost:As a scalable archive repository pricing is based on capacity purchased. Upon a determination of needed capacity, a price quotation can be furnished on request. Detailed Specs:http://www.emc.com/products/systems/centera.jsp Vendor URL:www.emc.com

Maximum Storage Capacity:Sixty-four64 LUNs/node x 2 TB/LUN x 80 nodes = 10,240 TB Immutability:Yes. Litigation Hold:Yes. There is a retention setting that correlates to being put into litigation hold. Retention/Deletion Features:Yes. Event-based retention -- retention is changed when an external event occurs; infinite retention -- retention remains infinite until converted to a discrete value; DoD 5520-M shredding -- an object can be tagged for shredding upon deletion. If the object is tagged, then when it is deleted, it is removed and shredded. Storage Reduction Features:Yes. We support collision-proof object-based deduplication. A background policy executes first identifies candidates for duplicate elimination. Once the candidates are identified, a second step executes performing a binary comparison between the two objects. If the comparison returns true, then and only then, is the content rendered down into a single instance. Reporting and Logging Features:Logging of system functions is recorded internally and displayed on the administrative interface. Capacity and full content search indexing. Encryption and Security Features:Yes. Encryption is supported on ingestion via HTTPS; encryption is supported over wide area replicated links via TLS; encryption of archive objects to a backup application over NDMP is supported; and encryption over the SAN fabric is supported using AES encryption. Metadata Features:Both explicit and implicit metadata capabilities are supported. Implicit metadata -- object creation time, object size, cryptographic hashes are computed by the system and linked to the object. Explicit metadata -- users of the system may set things like retention time or may choose to link an arbitrary well-formed XML document to the objects archived by the system. Scalability:32 Billion Management Tools:The system itself has an embedded element manager. Further, it integrates to HDS' HiCommand suite of storage management applications. Archiving Software Integration:See: http://hds.com/partners/solution-partners/ Connectivity:LAN -- two fully redundant ports per node are available to connect to a customer network. SAN -- if a user chooses to connect the system to the SAN fabric, each node has up to two Fibre Channel ports and can connect either directly or through a fabric to storage. Further multipathing and traditional active-active clustering is supported (swap of LUNs between node pairs). Availability:Several variations are currently available. Base Cost:Complete kit cost of the above system is around $86,000. Detailed Specs:http://www.hds.com/products/storage-systems/content-archive-platform/index.html Vendor URL:www.hds.com

Maximum Storage Capacity:168 TB with disk and petabytes with attached tape to DR550. Immutability:Yes. The DR550 offers a secure, nonerasable and nonrewriteable storage archiving repository where highly regulated industries and those with long retention needs can benefit the most. DR550 is a policy-based data retention solution where data is maintained as nonerasable and nonrewritable until deletion is permitted by retention policy. Plus, DR550 's internal management system is hardened to prevent any system administrator deletion whether intentional or inadvertent. Litigation Hold:Yes. The DR550 has a deletion hold feature that allows the selected content to be protected against the normal end-of-life (policy expiration) process. This can be very useful in the event that a record or set of records needs to be retained for legal, audit or other reasons. Retention/Deletion Features:The DR550 enables management of data that has no explicit retention period, such as employee (as long as employed) and customer (as long as account is open) data, through an event-based records management feature. It can help protect these records from deletion until a specific event occurs. The DR550 allows a designated object or group of objects to be protected against the normal end-of-life (policy expiration) process by using a deletion hold management feature. The DR550 enforces data retention polices that maintain data as nonerasable and nonrewritable until deletion is permitted by retention policy. Storage Reduction Features:Compression can be done by the tape systems attached to the DR550. Deduplication can be done by the content management applications that use the DR550 for archive storage. Reporting and Logging Features:Not provided. Encryption and Security Features:DR550 provides data encryption options with the option for transparent key management done by the DR550 or by an external key management application. The DR550 client, which is a DR550 software that sits on the same server as the archiving application software, can encrypt archive data using AES 128 or DES 56 encryption -- a DR550 exclusive. The archive data is in encrypted form during transmission to the DR550 and remains in encrypted form when stored in the DR550, including backup copies. DR550 also supports the new tape encryption capabilities offered with TS1120 or LTO-4 tape drives. Metadata Features:Archive policy metadata is added to the objects when they are added to the DR550. Scalability:The total number of objects supported by the DR550 is variable, depending on the amount of metadata stored with each object. On average, up to 500 million objects can be stored in the DR550. Management Tools:The DR550 supports SNMP managers by providing SNMP information on the DR550 components. Archiving Software Integration:DR550 integrates with the major archiving applications in the marketplace, which is over 40 today. This is direct integration to the DR550 client. DR550 also supports NFS/CFS file interface through DR550 file system gateway, which broadens the application support option significantly. Connectivity:DR550 is a network-attached product -- Ethernet LAN Vendor Comment:The IBM System Storage DR550 is an industry-proven information retention solution that is both cost-effective and high performing. Only the DR550 offers tiered storage archiving repository, disk, tape and optical, which helps provide lower total cost of ownership (TCO) for long-term retention and provides transparent migration capabilities to new storage technologies, that mitigates the cost issues around migrating to a newer technology. Availability:Currently available. Base Cost:DR550 comes in two models priced competitively in the market space. The smaller model starts with a smaller capacity and lower cost. List price for 900 GB raw capacity is approximately US$23,000-. Detailed Specs:http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/storage/disk/dr/index.html Vendor URL:www.ibm.com

Maximum Storage Capacity:Assureon can be a single appliance using internal Assureon appliance storage or can be deployed in a highly scalable grid architecture sharing a single Assureon storage system or the resources of an entire Assureon SAN. The maximum capacity Assureon can scale to in a single system is 5400 TB (5.4 petabytes) Immutability:Yes. Assureon is a disk-based WORM solution. Once files are stored, they can't be altered or deleted unless the retention period has ended. Assureon storage systems are also fully hardened. Users can't bypass Assureon appliances and directly access the Assureon storage LUNs/systems. Litigation Hold:After conducting a search, the results can be reviewed with our special viewer. Those files can be placed on legal hold, which means they can be retrieved as a group, restored on to another system or copied to removable media for mailing. Files that are on legal hold cannot be deleted even if their retention period has expired. Assureon supports thousands of different legal hold groups. Retention/Deletion Features:Assureon has retention periods from one day to 999 years. Retention period policy is applied on a file-by-file basis and is extremely granular. It can be applied for a specific file folder being archived, a specific person and a specific file type. Once a file's retention period is met, the file is moved to a deletion folder so it can be reviewed by an administrator. Deleted files can be migrated to other media or are permanently destroyed with any encryption keys shattered using up to a seven wipe process on the media. Storage Reduction Features:Assureon does data compression and deduplication. Each file entering Assureon is given a dual hash using SHA1 and MD5 that gives the file a unique CAS fingerprint string of 260 characters. If the file/CAS fingerprint is already stored within Assureon, and it will not save the file, but it will update the metadata database about the file metadata. This process, along with data compression, can reduce the required storage up to 50%. Reporting and Logging Features:Assureon reports and logs include transaction logs, disposition logs, archive logs and manifest, replication logs and storage utilization reports. There are also audits that Assureon runs in the background to repair damage, load-balance operations, replace lost files, etc. Encryption and Security Features:Nexsan Assureon provides AES 256-bit Smart Key Encryption. Each file has an individual AES 256 key that is managed automatically by a multiply-redundant, remote, Key Server, as well as a local Key Manager that caches unused keys and manages a local repository of keys that are being used to protect files. All accesses to the assets are logged, providing an audit trail and require a secure login. The built-in RAID subsystems have special firmware that prevent the deletion of volumes or RAID sets and can be locked so they will only respond to authenticated I/O from the Assureon cluster. Metadata Features:Assureon process every file and creates a uFID for the file. The uFID is stored in the Assureon database. The uFID and various other data about a file, such as its name, extension, creator, type, date of creation, retention policy, asset serial number, encryption key serial number, CAS fingerprint and source path, and other information used by Assureon, are combined into a metadata record that is digitally signed and bound to the asset. Scalability:Assureon is built on a grid that can support up to 256 Assureon appliance nodes and can federate multiple search databases and grow into a SAN. The number is unlimited and can easily scale into the billions of objects/files. Management Tools:Assureon has a Web-based GUI that allows the administrator to remotely configure the agents that Assureon uses to gather files from remote systems. On each system there may be multiple-watched directories that can have individual retention policies and metadata. Also from the GUI, files may be searched, transaction logs examined, disposition behavior configured and files or groups of files may be copied to remote systems. No user configuration of storage space or cluster behavior is required, as that is all automatic. Comprehensive and extensible reporting tools are provided. Archiving Software Integration:Archiving products from: Mimosa, Zantaz, Symantec, Messaging Architects, Digital Imaging, ZL Technology, Idatix, Jack Henry, Plasmon, EnterpriseVault/Symantec and others. Assureon also includes a NAS interface for NFS and CIFS, and Assureon archive agents for Windows. Connectivity:Dual Gigabit Ethernet ports and dual 4 GB Fibre Channel ports. Assureon can also be customized with different of more ports. Vendor Comment:Nexsan's Assureon is an intelligent and secure networked storage system comprised of software, servers and storage that is fully integrated into a single system. Assureon is designed to store, manage, protect, dispose of and provide fast, easy access to millions of files. Availability:Currently available. Base Cost:Base price starts at under $49,000. Detailed Specs:http://www.nexsan.com/assureon/saapp.php Vendor URL:www.nexsan.com

Maximum Storage Capacity:Scalable to multiple hundreds of petabytes Immutability:Yes, enabling application or user driven WORM to manage the information over its defined lifecycle. Data is protected with multiple copies across a grid architecture and use of digital fingerprinting (SHA 256) to validate information at rest, on-the-fly and which has been replicated. Litigation Hold:Yes. Retention capabilities enable an application to put a hold on a specific piece of information or a whole category of information. Retention/Deletion Features:Yes. Retention periods can be set on any and all stored information. When information is deleted from the Permabit Enterprise Archive, the corresponding data chunks are removed, the links between the information and data chunks are broken such that the original information cannot be reassembled. Deleted data chunks are continuously overwritten, ensuring that information is completely deleted and the space is reclaimed. Storage Reduction Features:Scalable Data Reduction provides advanced compression and data deduplication to the sub-file level, without capacity limitations; data reduction capabilities scale along with the system to multiple hundreds of petabytes. Permabit's RAIN-EC functionality further reduces overhead and storage requirements. Reporting and Logging Features:Enterprise Archive Notification and Event Management maintains a log of monitored events which can be accessed through the web-based Permabit Management console. The log displays the date and time of each log entry, a description of the event, and a URL link to the affected volume or node, if applicable. In addition the Permabit Manager provides a Log File Browser application that allows users to view verbose events from all nodes in an Object Store. Encryption and Security Features:The volume encryption feature uses the federally approved Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) to protect information from physical media theft. The Security Module supports authentication via Microsoft Active Directory as well as through corporate LDAP or NIS mechanisms. Security is further enhanced through the support of host-and identity-based access controls. These controls permit administrators to specify specific hosts that may access specific Permabit volumes and which users can access specific files or directories on those volumes. Metadata Features:Not provided Scalability:Permabit Enterprise Archive is highly scalable to multiple hundreds of petabytes. With the system's grid architecture, adding capacity is as simple as adding a new storage node to the live environment, thereby enabling continuous archive operation. The system automatically load balances and integrates the new node into the grid. Management Tools:The Permabit Enterprise Archive is self-configuring, self-managing and self-healing. It handles all the logistics of storing and managing information over its lifecycle. Permabit's health check technologies predict potential failures and preemptively alert administrators and our support team that performance is outside of customer defined parameters. The system automatically protects (migrates) information from a failing device to a healthy device, enabling seamless data retention. Archiving Software Integration:There are many independent software vendor applications that have integrated with the Permabit Enterprise Archive. Permabit is a file share that is simply a target for these applications. With an open architecture and support for NFS, CIFS and WebDAV, Permabit enables any application to integrate with the Enterprise Archive without the need for expensive programming. Connectivity:Not provided Vendor Comment:Permabit delivers a complete Enterprise Archive solution that is massively scalable to grow archives to multiple hundreds of petabytes, ensuring long term data retention and availability. Permabit delivers Scalable Data Reduction combining data compression with in-line sub-file data deduplication and RAIN-EC technology. Permabit Enterprise Archive maintains data integrity by locking down data over extended retention periods with validity checks for information at rest and on-the-fly, as well as replicas, to ensure data is kept the same as the day it was written. Base Cost:Base systems start at less than $50,000 Detailed Specs:http://www.permabit.com/solutions/PermabitforArchive.asp Vendor URL:www.permabit.com

Maximum Storage Capacity:The capacity is really infinite since it supports and manages the RDX removable disk drives. There is an active archive area and the number of RDX removable disks inserted into RDA slots are all available as online capacity, which can range up to 39 TB currently, but the overall capacity supported is infinite. Immutability:WORM mode is enforced in InfiniVault and each RDX cartridge that is used in InfiniVault has hardware enforced WORM to ensure immutability. Litigation Hold:Legal hold is supported on a per file basis where an administrative interface into InfiniVault is used either to do e-discovery searches or file searches and then selectively apply a unique legal hold to those files. The local hold will prevent any deletion due to retention expiration until the legal hold is removed. There may be multiple legal holds outstanding per file. Retention/Deletion Features:A retention period may be set and InfiniVault will manage the disposition of the data upon retention expiration. When the retention period expires on a file, based on the configuration selection for the independent archive, either the file may be deleted with a standard delete or with a secure delete that will recall all copies of the file and perform a digital overwrite of the data. Storage Reduction Features:For each of the independent archives, the configuration settings exit to do compression and single instancing. The compression is a Lempel-Ziv algorithm. For archiving, which by definition is a one-time move of a file to the archive within a specific archive, if the same file is transferred (that has the same hash code digital fingerprint) only one instance will be stored. Reporting and Logging Features:An audit trail is maintained for all data ingested on a per file granularity. Reports for the chain of custody from the audit trail, as well as operational reports regarding statistics on data ingested, are available. Encryption and Security Features:On a per archive basis, encryption of files may be selected. An AES 256 encryption of each file is done. Access control security for both file access and access to the management GUI is also required. Metadata Features:For standard format files, a content indexing operation is performed and the results are stored in a database for searching. Other information regarding a specific file (encryption, digital fingerprint, cartridges stored, etc. are maintained in a file database. Scalability:This depends on the specific model. The high-end model does not have defined limit at this point. Management Tools:A Web-based GUI is provided to all configuration, administration and management activities. Archiving Software Integration:InfiniVault is a target storage system for archiving that is accessed with UNC paths. Archiving software that can put data on a UNC path (a NAS device is the example) will be able to use the InfiniVault for archiving and compliance protection. Connectivity:A Gigabit Ethernet port is used to connect InfiniVault to the network. Vendor Comment:ProStor's new InfiniVaultT archive appliance, built around RDXR removable disk technology, provides SMEs with an archiving solution that delivers a fast, secure and reliable archival storage platform for long-term data preservation, e-discovery and regulatory compliance in one integrated system. InfiniVault enables customers to reclaim valuable primary storage. This limits the need for acquiring additional expensive primary disk capacity and shortens backup windows, resulting in lower storage management costs and improved operational efficiencies. The overall impact of installing an InfiniVault appliance is an expected ROI in less than one year, along with a five to 10 times return over five years. Base Cost:The InfiniVault Model 30 MSLP starts at $29,995. The InfiniVault Model 100 MSLP starts at $74,995. Detailed Specs:http://www.prostorsystems.com/infinivault.php Vendor URL:www.prostorsystems.com

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